Coalition of Resistance backs Councillors Against the Cuts

Some positive steps are being taken in the battle against local authority cuts.  In Harrow, the Council and Harrow Observer are combining in a campaign for increased funding which I support, but I am concerned that the campaign may be interpreted as suggesting that Brent is over-funded LINK.

Local authorities ALL need to be adequately funded in order to provide vital services.

The campaign Councillors Against the Cuts LINK has been set up to urge councils  to refuse to implement cuts and organise resistance against the Coalition;s austerity agenda. Recently there has been in increase in the number of councillors signing up to the campaign.

Their founding statement includes the following paragraphs:

We stand in solidarity with anti-cuts campaigns, with people defending their local services and with the broader community, tenants and residents, our children, disabled people, pensioners etc – in defence of the living standards and rights of the most vulnerable people in society as the Coalition government attacks them.

Most of us are Labour councillors and our campaign is sponsored by the Labour Representation Committee, but we are open to all left and labour movement councillors willing to pledge to vote against/refuse to implement cuts.

Whether you are a councillor, local government worker, other trade unionist, anti-cuts campaigner, community activist or Labour Party activist – get involved!

I understand that some Green councillors are signing up to the campaign nd a Green Councillors Against the Cuts Facebook page has been set up LINK

The Coalition of Resistance, chaired by leading Green Party member Romayne Phoenix, has issued this statement of support:

The Coalition of Resistance congratulates all the councillors who have launched “Councillors Against the Cuts”. This new front in the resistance against austerity is to be welcomed by all those committed to defending public services and jobs and the welfare state.

The Coalition of Resistance supports you in your pledge to “vote against all cuts to services and jobs, increases in rents and charges, and increases in council tax”. This determined stand will encourage trade unions and their members, community organisations and anti-cuts groups to campaign and take the actions necessary to roll back the attacks from the ConDem Coalition Government.

We hope that many more councillors will join you in your stand in the run-up to the formalities of setting a budget. Local authority finance is now so tightly controlled by central government, there is little credibility in the idea that it is possible to set a budget which protects local people from the worst effects of the cuts.

Your declaration to vote against all cuts is therefore important to demonstrate that there is an alternative to administering austerity. The Coalition of Resistance pledges its support to all of you, and to work together to defend the welfare state and fight for an alternative based on meeting the needs of ordinary people, not those of the banks and big business. We invite you to join us in making the People’s Assembly against Austerity in June the springboard for a broad movement that will inflict defeats on this government.

In solidarity,

Romayne Phoenix, Chair CoR
Sam Fairbairn, Secretary CoR
Fred Leplat

It would be wonderful if some of our councillors in Brent threw away their dented shields, recognise that they cannot carry on making the cuts demanded by the Coalition, and make a stand with the resistance.

Is Gove now forcing non-failing schools to become academies?

Press release from the Save Roke Primary campaign who, like Gladstone Park Primary in Brent, are fighting forced academisation:

  
Michael Gove is now forcing well performing schools like Roke Primary in Kenley to become academies, as well as long term failing ones. This fits in with his desire to accelerate his academies programme. Roke may be one of the first but many are likely to follow.

Roke Primary, a previously ‘outstanding’ school, is not underperforming but the DfE are handing it to the Harris Federation, run by David Cameron’s personal friend and major Tory donor, Lord Harris. The decision was made just 4 months after one poor Ofsted report caused mainly by computer failure. The Guardian published claims that Gove may be flouting his own guidance on forced academies, “…his department’s official direction say this should only happen when a school has been underperforming for some time and if the problems are not being tackled”. Guidance set out in the 2010 Schools White Paper is very clear. “Where there has been long-term underperformance, little sign of improvement and serious Ofsted concern, we will convert schools into Academies,…” (Section 7.18).

 Parents believe that forced academy at Roke is going against this guidance. Roke has no consistent history of low performance. The latest SAT results are above the national average. Roke has never been below floor targets. Both Ofsted and the Local Authority agree that Roke is improving. Ofsted’s recent monitoring verdict, received by parents on Friday, was that satisfactory progress has been made. This was the best rating Roke could achieve without a longer time between inspections to show improvements had been sustained. It is clear that Roke has improved without the need for academy status or sponsorship by the Harris Federation. Despite this, forced academy is still going ahead.

Parents are campaigning against forced academy, and the complete lack of consultation or right of appeal. They are concerned about the speed and manner in which forced academy has occurred. They oppose Harris as sponsor. Their choice is Riddlesdown Collegiate, the local secondary academy, to which most Roke pupils progress. A long term partnership with Riddlesdown has become closer since Roke was issued a ‘notice to improve’. It is clear, from the progress made, that the partnership is working. If, forced academy must go ahead, Riddlesdown, not Harris is the governor, parent and staff choice of sponsor.

Roke parent, Angeline Hind said, “I thought sponsored academies were all about improving schools which have been underperforming for years. Roke is a good school which wavered before turning itself around very quickly. To force us into academy with a sponsor used to dealing with seriously failing schools seems like an extreme reaction”. Parent Debbie Shaw commented “Roke is a great catch for an academy chain like Harris, our results are already good and they will be able to claim the credit for improvements that have already happened”. Father Nigel Geary-Andrews said “It is alarming that the government is rushing through forced academies on schools like Roke, where there is no proven record of failure over any length of time, without any consultation with parents at all and no way of appealing. This does not seem democratic or transparent to me”

Butt confirms 'dramatic' parking charge reduction being considered

A swift and unsolicited reaction to my earlier exclusive story on parking charges LINK:

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council said:

“While no final decision will be made until we have consulted fully with residents and Councillors, we are looking closely at dramatically reducing charges for the first 20 minutes of parking. I’m personally strongly in favour of it as I believe it will help local businesses and residents at a time when they need it most. But we will have to say what the public think first.

Butt's bleak Brent budget forecast for 2014/15 and beyond

In a presentation to the Labour Party's Brent Forum at the weekend, current leader Council leader Muhammed Butt, warned members of a looming budgetary crisis in 2014/15. There was an expected 11.8% cut (£19.3m).

Even worse, there would be 7% annual cuts until 2020 threatening the future of local government as we know it.

In 2014 the Council would have to bring forward difficult decisions that they had not expected to have to make until 2015/16. He promised 'more and better consultations' and put forward the idea of a 'community budget - giving residents the choice of which servces to protect' over a 6-9 month consultation period 'using innovative methods to reach more residents'.

This of course falls far short of a 'needs budget' that would be used as a campaigning tool against the Coalition cuts and benefit changes, uniting the Council with voluntary organisations, community groups, trades unions and residents.

The Brent Fightback slogan 'Enough is Enough' seems justified by Butt's bleak view of the future in the sldie entitled 'What Future for Local Government?'

• •Growing demand for social care services
• •By 2020 – ‘non statutory’ spend will be reduced from 2/3rd to 10% of total budget
• •This means: no youth centres, no parks maintenance, no street cleaning, no employment support, no arts funding & no voluntary sector support

The options he then gives, in the absence of any widespread national campaign against the cuts and in defence of local government,  do not measure up to the enormity of the challenge.

•National 

• •Increased funding from central government
• •Allow us more freedom over tax and revenue
• •Remove Statutory Obligations 

•Local

• •Integration with partners – voluntary sector, businesses, NHS, police
• •Greater involvement of local residents in the design & implementation of services

•

20p for 20 minutes reduced parking charge on the cards

Brent Council Executive has agreed in principle to a reduced charge of 20p for the first 20 minutes of parking following vociferous protests from motorists and complaints from small businesses that their trade on local high streets was being affected. Opposition councillors had claimed that the present policy favoured large supermarkets,  which offer free parking,  at the expense of small shops.

Cllr Jim Moher, lead member for Highways and Transportation, had already announced at full Council that Brent was to go over to a 'linear' charging system where motorists get charged by the minute rather than in blocks. The block system meant that there was a steep increase between blocks (£1.50 for 40 minutes and £2.40 for one hour), Moher hopes that the linear system will  be fairer and also  increase revenue.

Officers are now at work to find ways of meeting the £0.8m cost of the reduced first 20 minutes charge.

Northwick Park A&E falls well below national targets

The North West London Hospital Trust is failing to meet targets for A&E according to figures submitted to the Brent Health Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee LINK.  The national target is that patients should spend no more that four hours in the department from entry to exit. The annual average for Northwick Park (Type one) is 90.55% and in the week leading up to the report was only 73.71%. One quarter of patients were there for more than four hours.

Central Middlesex A&E figures, on a much lower total of patients, were 97.05% and 95.45% respectively.

Commenting on Northwick Park, Tina Benson, Deputy Director of Operations at the Trust, states:

Gladstone Park gains window of opportunity on forced academy conversion

Gladstone Park Primary Reception Class  December 2012
The Department for Education has told the governing body of Gladstone Park Primary that they will delay making a decision on the proposed sponsor until February 11th. The DfE had been expected to name a sponsor last week.

The letter, which appears on the school's website LINK broadens the grounds for forced academisation:

Where schools are underperforming (my emphasis) or in an Ofsted category, Ministers have been very clear that the Department should lead on brokering sponsored Academy solutions. This is because the Department's sponsor assessment process and regular contact officials  have with sponsors means that the Department is best placed to provide a complete view on an individual sponsor's current capacity and capability to deliver.

The designation of 'underperforming' clearly widens the scope for forced academisation and confirms that this is a strategy designed to escalate the conversion of local authority primary schools to academy status.

 Offering  the governing body the opportunity to give its views and ideas 'before the proposed sponsor is decided' (Note - not whether academisation is the the best solution for the school and one favoured by the governing body, staff and parents) the DfE Brokerage and School Underperformance Division delay the decision until February 11th.

However, having offered that limited opportunity, the DfE makes it clear that 'formal consultation' only takes place AFTER the governing body has agreed that the school should have a particular sponsor:

...The Department believes it is most appropriate to meet with the governing body to discuss Academy status as it is the body responsible and accountable for the school's performance and strategic direction, and can make the decision to apply for an Academy Order. We recognise the importance of consulting locally and this is a requirement before any school can open as an Academy.The formal consultation is usually started when the proposed sponsor has been identified by the Department, the governing body has met with, and agreed to be sponsored by the sponsor, and the proposal has been given Ministerial approval to be taken forward. As the key stakeholder groups (parents, staff, the local authority and the wider community) are represented on the governing body in elected and non-elected roles, it is well-placed to take this decision.

There is a tacit recognition of the potentially conflicting claims of the DfE and ministers and the local democratic role and responsibilities of the governing body. 

Reading between the lines it appears that the Department wants to avoid appearing to ride rough-shod over current democratic arrangements (as it did at Downhills) by recognising the role of the governing body, but at the same time seeks to have the deal signed, sealed and delivered in advance of the consultation.

A key word is the 'usually' in the passage in bold. Perhaps there is space here for the governing body to insist that the consultation includes alternatives to academy conversion including the school managing its own improvement in collaboration with Brent's School Improvement Service or some other agency, or forming a soft or hard federation with another school.

It is important that Brent Council steps in to offer Gladstone Park support in such an approach.

Brent Council to be lobbied on cuts